The present invention relates generally to optical cavities and more particularly to a micro-cavity laser having increased sensitivity to applied electrical fields.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,405 teaches a Q-switched micro-cavity laser having a first resonant cavity consisting of a gain medium disposed between two optically reflective mirrors. A second optical resonant cavity is formed by two partially reflective mirrors and is physically and optically coupled to the first resonant cavity. The first resonant cavity will lase when pumped by an external optical source. The reflectivity of the intermediate mirror common to the first and second cavities as seen by the gain medium of the first resonant cavity looking toward the second resonant cavity is determined by the resonant modes of the second resonant cavity. It is therefore possible to prevent or permit the gain medium to lase by adjusting the second resonant cavity such that the resonances of the second cavity causes either low reflectivity of the common mirror, which prevents lasing, or high reflectivity in the common mirror, which induces lasing.
The '405 patent teaches a number of embodiments for varying the second resonant cavity. Of particular interest to the present invention, the second resonant cavity of formed of an electro-optic material disposed between the two partially reflective mirrors with two opposing electrodes disposed adjacent to the electro-optic material. Applying an electric field across the electro-optic material changes the index of refraction of the material, which varies the reflectivity of the intermediate mirror as seem by the gain medium in the gain cavity. This results in the micro-cavity laser generating a train of optical pulses that are dependent on the applied electrical field across the electro-optic material. The '405 patent also teaches that the second resonant cavity need not affect the gain cavity so much that the lasing is turned on or off. Instead, the resonant cavity can be used to modulate the intensity of the light produced by the gain medium.
A paper titled “Rapidly Tunable Millimeter-Wave Optical Transmitter for Lidar-Radar” by Y. Li, A. J. C. Vieira, S. M. Goldwasser and P. R. Herczfeld teaches the use of two electro-optical mono-mode micro-chip laser sections formed on a single composite crystal for producing a rapidly tunable millimeter wave optical transmitter. The side-by-side micro-chip lasers are formed with a Nd:YVO4 gain medium resonant cavity and a MgO:LiNbO3 electro-optic resonant cavity. The micro-chip lasers are optically pumped by independent 808 nm high power laser diodes. Electrodes are deposited on opposing sides of each of the electro-optic resonant cavities. A DC voltage is applied to one of the electrodes of one of the electro-optic resonant cavities, which changes the wavelength of the optical output with respect to the other micro-chip laser. The optical output of the micro-chip lasers are heterodyned resulting a tunable beat frequency range of 45 GHz with a voltage sensitivity of 10.6 MHz/V. The transmitter was set at an 8 GHZ bias point using a phase lock loop. A 10 MHZ, 18V peak-to-peak ramp signal is applied to one of the micro-chip lasers. The signal was recovered and measured, which showed a frequency excursion of 190.8 MHz over a 50 ns time corresponding to a chirp rate of 3816 THz/sec. The reference concludes by indicating continuing efforts to increase the voltage sensitivity by reducing the crystal thickness and improving the electrical contacts.
The strength of the electric field distribution within the electro-optic material is a function of the distance between the opposing electrodes and the amplitude of the applied electrical signal. The strength of the electric field is the inverse of the distance separation of the electrodes. As the distance between the electrodes decreases, the strength of the electric field between them increases. As the distance decreases, the magnitude of the electrical signal can decrease to generate the same amount of change in the index of refraction.
Currently, the minimum overall dimensions of the electro-optic material used in optical devices and cavities is limited by the practical size at which the material can be handled resulting in electrodes that are positioned at a substantial distance from the optical path of the optical signal. This results in optical devices having low sensitivity to the applied electrical signal.
What is needed is an electrically controlled micro-cavity laser having improved sensitivity to applied electrical signals.